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Psalm 130
Lent 5A
As we continue our Lenten journey up to Mt. Calvary, the Lectionary puts a perfect Psalm before us on this Fifth Sunday of Lent. We’re getting close to our destination, but here the path takes a severe dip, sort of like a saddle on a mountain just before the summit. This Song of Ascents takes…
Psalm 23
Lent 4A
On the Fourth Sunday of Lent, we are given a tough assignment by the RCL: preach on Psalm 23, the best known, best loved text in the entire Bible. Rolf Jacobsen summarizes the difficulty of such an assignment. We can run the risk of trivializing the sublime. Or we can turn the sermon into an…
Psalm 95
Lent 3A
The readings from the Psalms for this season of Lent are carefully and well chosen. We began our Lenten journey with Psalm 32, which sets the penitential tone of Lent while still calling us to rejoice in forgiveness. Psalm 121 gives Lenten pilgrims the deep assurance that Yahweh is watching over us as we make…
Psalm 121
Lent 2A
If Psalm 32 was the perfect Psalm for the beginning of our Lenten journey because of its classic description of “the way we should go” to move from guilty silence to joyful song, then Psalm 121 is the perfect Psalm for the next leg of the journey, because of its profound assurance that God will…
Psalm 32
Lent 1A
It is no wonder that the Lectionary takes us to Psalm 32 on this first Sunday of Lent; its somber focus on sin, confession, and forgiveness is perfect for this season. But it is also a bit tiresome, because this is the third time in a little over a year that Psalm 32 is the…
Psalm 2
Last Epiphany A
This is Transfiguration Sunday, the glorious conclusion of the season of Epiphany. The story of Christ’s Transfiguration pre-figured in Exodus 24:12-18, told in Matthew 17:1-9, and retold in II Peter 1:16-21 (our other lectionary readings for today) is given a dark twist in our reading from Psalm 2. The other lectionary readings point to the…
Psalm 119:33-40
Epiphany 7A
Psalm 119 asserts again and again (almost ad infinitum) that the Law of God is the source of joy and delight, because it gives life and light. But that’s not how the Law feels to most of us most of the time. And, as we saw last week, that’s not how Paul talks about the…
Psalm 119:1-8
Epiphany 6A
Whenever I read Psalm 119, alarm bells go off in my head. For one thing, it feels like a literary monstrosity, 176 verses of boring, repetitious monotony. The great Old Testament scholar Artur Weiser wrote that Psalm 119 is “a particularly artificial product of religious poetry. The formal external character of the Psalm stifles its…
Psalm 112:1-9 (10)
Epiphany 5A
Well, they did it again. I mean the compilers of the lectionary. For the second week in a row, the lectionary returns to a Psalm that we studied less than half a year ago. I know, I’m beginning to sound like one of those “grumpy old men” who complain about everything. But, really, with 150…
Psalm 15
Epiphany 4A
Psalm 15 opens with a question that will trouble a lot of people in many congregations. It’s a question put to God. Now, questioning God is not a problem for most Christians these days. In fact, it’s much in vogue. Folks like David Dark speak eloquently about the necessity of asking questions if our faith…
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